Senate approves bill of law that facilitates the recognition of “famous marks”

The plenary of the Federal Senate approved, on April 2, the bill of law 86/15, which creates special rules that aim to facilitate the recognition of “famous marks” to trademarks registered before the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (“INPI”).

“Famous marks” is a classification that guarantees to a trademark protection in all international classes and branches of activity, including in those in which the mark is not used. With such protection, no other similar trademark can be registered before the INPI, even if it is used in another branch. The INPI has granted 104 “famous marks” until today.

Bill of law 86/15, which regulates Federal Law 9.279/96 (“Industrial Property Law”), will allow the owner of a trademark to request at any time the “famous mark” protection to the INPI. Currently, according to INPI’s internal rule, interested parties must wait for a third party to request the registration of the same trademark in another class.

The bill of law also foresees that, if the trademark application is granted, the recognition of “famous mark” shall be informed in the trademark registration.

Also, during the process of approval of the bill of law in the Senate, an article was added to the bill establishing that the recognition of “famous mark” has a 10 years term, and that the request for renewal shall be accompanied by recent data that justify such request.

With the approval and proposed amendments to the bill of law in the Federal Senate, the bill of law will now return to the Chamber of Deputies, from where it was originated.

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